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MASARYK UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND EUROPEAN STUDIES
MVZ 449
Mass Political Behavior - US
Spring 2010
Final Exam Study Guide
Date of Exam: Wednesday, May 26th
, 4-5:30 pm OR Friday, June 4th
, 3-4:30 pm
NOTE THE EXAM ROOM: U43 FSS
Terms & Concepts From Lectures & Course Materials: You will define terms and concepts
drawn from our lectures and discussions. You should have reviewed and studied ALL
materials placed on reserve for the class. Listed below are several examples of how terms will
be drawn from the lecture and reading materials and is NOT an exhaustive list of all terms that
might appear on the exam. All that we have below are examples of how terms might be used
from lectures in the exam itself. To be prepared, you should be comfortable writing a few
sentences for each of the following (for example define the term, explain why it is relevant for
terrorism studies, and provide an example):
1) Rational Choice Behavior (RCB)
2) RCB Preferences & Attitude Effects
3) The Spatial Model of Voting Behavior
4) Convergence of Voter Preferences in the
Spatial Model
5) Role of Parties in Elections
6) Role of Elections in Democracies
7) Elections Campaign Dynamics, Forces
8) Do Elections Matter?
9) Macro-Micro Measurement Problem
10) General Election Results, US, 2000,
2004, 2008
11) Red, Blue, & Purple America
12) Culture War – Myth or Reality?
13) Social Class, SES, & Voting in the US
14) Cost-Benefit Analysis & Voting Paradox
15) Two Principal Info. Processing Models
16) Zaller & his R-A-S Model
17) Public Opinion Research, Overview
18) Polling Issues & the Culture War
19) Measurement of Public Opinion &
Polling Techniques, Concerns
20) Environmental & Strategic Factors of
Elections
21) Role of Economic Conditions in
Elections & Examples in 2008
22) Vote Choice Decision-making & Three
Models of the Vote
23) Who Votes, How They Vote
24) Who Votes – What They Want, Part II
25) Air Wars I & II – Media’s Goals in
Elections
26) Campaign Finance Systems including
Hard, Soft money, FEC, & BCRA
27) TIDES, Disclosure, & Sunlight effects
of Campaign Finance Systems
28) Course Summary: Trends in PID &
Ideology; Impacts on November 2010